Independents
are people who, for one reason or another, choose not to affiliate themselves
with any party (aka political affiliation). In doing so, they receive no
campaign money from a large organized party and they must fight an uphill
battle to get on ballots. Then, to actually get elected, they need to win
over a large amount of people because most voters are affiliated with either
the republicans or democrats. However, there are a few good reasons for
being independent:

1. Parties supply politicians with money for their campaign
and endorse the canidate. If the party isn't happy with how a canidate
has done over their last term the party may choose not to endorse them
during the next election, so this person feels a pressure to conform to
his party's voting trends. An independent has no obligation to a party
or pressures to vote one way or another.

2. The person doesn't like the views of either party.
If a person simply doesn't agree with the viewpoints taken by a party,
he/she just won't join any and simply claim to vote based on their own
pespectives, rather than have the influence of a party.

3. There's a political strategy side to presenting yourself
as an independent during election time. People running for office may not
expect to win an election, but may simply be running to get their name
recognized for an upcoming election down the road. If this person sincerely
supports one opposing canidate over the other because they generally agree
with their views, they may leave their party and run independently. In
doing this, it is likely that less votes will be detracted from the canidate
that the independent canidate wants to be elected, but at the same time,
a good amount of name recognition will result simply from his/her name
being on the ballot. There are seveal other election strategies involving
independent canidacy, but I won't bore you with the details.